Mobile Text Messaging for Tobacco Risk Communication Among Young Adult Community College Students: Randomized Trial of Project Debunk.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
; 9(11): e25618, 2021 11 24.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34822339
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The use of new and emerging tobacco products (NETPs) and conventional tobacco products (CTPs) has been linked to several alarming medical conditions among young adults (YAs). Considering that 96% of YAs own mobile phones, SMS text messaging may be an effective strategy for tobacco risk communication.OBJECTIVE:
Project Debunk is a community-based randomized trial aiming to identify specific types of messages that effectively improve perceived NETP and CTP risk among YAs in community colleges.METHODS:
With YAs recruited offline from 3 campuses at the Houston Community College (September 2016 to July 2017), we conducted a 6-month randomized trial with 8 arms based on the combination of 3 message categories framing (gain-framed vs loss-framed), depth (simple vs complex), and appeal (emotional vs rational). Participants received fully automated web-based SMS text messages in two 30-day campaigns (2 messages per day). We conducted repeated-measures mixed-effect models stratified by message type received, predicting perceived CTP and NETP risks. Owing to multiple testing with 7 models, an association was deemed significant for P<.007 (.05 divided by 7).RESULTS:
A total of 636 participants completed the baseline survey, were randomized to 1 of 8 conditions (between 73 and 86 participants per condition), and received messages from both campaigns. By the 2-month post campaign 2 assessment point, 70.1% (446/636) completed all outcome measures. By the end of both campaigns, participants had a significant increase in perceived NETP risk over time (P<.001); however, participants had a marginal increase in perceived CTP risk (P=.008). Separately for each group, there was a significant increase in perceived NETP risk among participants who received rational messages (P=.005), those who received emotional messages (P=.006), those who received simple messages (P=.003), and those who received gain-framed messages (P=.003).CONCLUSIONS:
In this trial, YAs had an increase in perceived NETP risk. However, with stratification, we observed a significant increase in perceived NETP risk upon exposure to rational, emotional, simple, and gain-framed messages. In addition, YAs generally had an increase in perceived CTP risk and presented nonsignificant but observable improvement upon exposure to emotional, complex, and loss-framed messages. With the results of this study, researchers and practitioners implementing mobile health programs may take advantage of our tailored messages through larger technology-based programs such as smartphone apps and social media campaigns. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03457480; https//clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03457480. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID) RR2-10.2196/10977.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Envio de Mensagens de Texto
/
Produtos do Tabaco
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article